Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Gird Your Loins

Giving hope to the hopeless is risky business. Rest assured, they didn't get hopeless overnight. Many before attempted to bridge the gap, to put the fate of the franchise on their shoulders for the long drag towards the Promised Land.

When the hope grows so faint, the despair so deep that anything — literally anything — is enough to grab the hopes and dreams of a downtrodden fanbase. The knee-jerk reaction that Kyle Drabek was somehow traded straight-up for Roy Halladay makes an essential meaningless start against a woeful, cellar-dwelling opponent a quickie litmus test for the fate of the franchise.

Convenient and guarded as that statement may be, the emergence of Kyle Drabek means something to Jays fans whether we like it or not. The likelihood of him becoming a starter the quality of Brandon Morrow or Ricky Romero is even a long shot, let alone Roy Halladay. But guarded enthusiasm doesn't work for sports fans, especially in this moribund town.

Recent reviews of Drabek's development are more than a little encouraging, though a closer look at his double-A numbers reveal results not quite up to snuff with the likes of Brett Cecil. Can we draw many conclusions from this? No, I don't think so. But some might try to anyway.

Hopefully everyone can enjoy the first big league start of Kyle Drabek's career without attaching too much importance. God only knows the type of lineup card Clarence will fill out to support the young starter, though we can assume it won't be an airtight defensive ship.

One doesn't have to look much further than the home dugout to see what can happen to the best laid plans and the highest hopes for young starting pitching. Sometimes it doesn't come together as you'd like. I plan on enjoying the show and leaving it at that.

By the way, I saw some British guy (must've been intelligent) chirping about what's happening to the english language, what with the text speak running rampant in the younger generation an' all. He was quick to point out though, when the presenter lumped bloggers in with the afflicted, that blogs have represented a renaissance for written English.

Even visiting a "baseball" or "soccer" blog, as I often do, it's easy to see that Enlish prose is alive and well in our society. Maybe even thriving. Thank you bloggers everywhere.

@ Gil: You're absolutely right. I've thought about it, and feel the same way. More people are writing, and reading, thanks to blogs. And that's a good thing. No matter what Damien Cox and Bruce Dowbiggin say.

With the exception being every post I've read about Drabek. Every blog says the same thing. Don't get your hopes up.

I'm weary of this take on everything sports related. It's safe to say that 95% of prospects won't reach the level we'd like them to. I don't really care to have reality in my sports world or any other time wasting device I use to pass the time with.

Tell me he is the future and the future is bright. Never mind, I'll pretend that's what you said.